News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

US threatens South Sudan arms embargo

Posted: 15 Sep 2016 12:02 AM PDT

The US ambassador to the UN says her country will support an arms embargo on South Sudan if the government there continues to prevent peacekeepers from moving around freely to protect civilians.

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United Nations - The US ambassador to the UN says her country will support an arms embargo on South Sudan if the government there continues to prevent peacekeepers from moving around freely to protect civilians.

Samantha Power said on Wednesday she hoped the UN would be able to achieve consensus on how to hold the government of South Sudan to the commitments it made during a recent visit by the Security Council.

Power spoke to reporters ahead of a closed-door Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in the world's youngest country that has been wracked by civil war for much of its short existence.

She said the visit left council members feeling the situation was far worse than they had imagined.

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AU plans to send observers to Gabon election appeal

Posted: 15 Sep 2016 12:02 AM PDT

The African Union says it plans to send observers to help Gabon's Constitutional Court with a legal complaint lodged by opposition leader Jean Ping.

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Libreville - The African Union says it plans to send observers to help Gabon's Constitutional Court with a legal complaint lodged by opposition leader Jean Ping, who accuses President Ali Bongo of cheating to secure victory in an election last month.

The dispute led to riots that killed at least six people and brought unwelcome international scrutiny for Bongo, whose family has ruled the central African OPEC member for nearly 50 years.

Ping, who officially lost by fewer than 6,000 votes, last week applied to the court to authorise a recount in the Haut-Ogooue province, Bongo's stronghold, where the president won 95 percent of the votes on a 99.9 percent turnout.

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union requested that its executive branch deploy observers from other French-speaking African countries "to assist the Constitutional Court of Gabon", it said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The European Union, which sent an official observation team to the election and has cited anomalies in the poll results from Haut-Ogooue province, will maintain observers in the country.

It was not clear what level of access observers would have to the internal deliberations of the court, which is due to decide on the recount by September 23.

The government has stressed that the court is neutral and also accused Ping's supporters of irregularities in the polls, allegations repeated on Wednesday by Faustin Boukoubi, secretary-general of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party.

Boukoubi also called upon the international community to act responsibly, though he did not specifically mention the African Union.

"We have no doubt that our partners and the friends of Gabon will objectively involve themselves in preserving our peace and that no member of the international community will contrive to pour fuel on the fire," he told reporters.

Ping says he has no faith in the judicial body because of its ties to the Bongo family. The head of the court, Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo, was the long-time mistress of Ali Bongo's father Omar Bongo, who ruled for 41 years.

Ping is himself a longtime political insider and was a close ally of Omar Bongo. He fathered two children with the current president's sister, Pascaline.

Ali Bongo's opponents complained to the court after he won his first term in 2009, and the court upheld his victory following a recount.

Gabon's former colonial ruler France, which has a military base in the country and a large stake in the oil sector via major Total, has urged the court to examine the opposition's complaint transparently and impartially.

It has ruled out intervening militarily in the dispute, as it has done previously in parts of Africa.

Reuters

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Boko Haram video threatens to kill Nigeria's president

Posted: 15 Sep 2016 12:02 AM PDT

A new video by Boko Haram threatens to kill Nigeria's president and army chief and warns of further destruction.

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Lagos - A new video by Boko Haram threatens to kill Nigeria's president and army chief and warns of further destruction, though the Islamic extremists have not mounted a major attack in Nigeria in months.

A preacher in the video says Boko Haram is "even stronger now" and "will destroy what we never destroyed before," according to a translation from the Hausa by Premium Times newspaper.

The video posted on YouTube on Wednesday says it was shot Monday in Nigeria's northeastern Sambisa Forest at prayers marking Eid al-Adha festival.

It shows scores of worshipping men, many armed, in a mosque and at an outdoor ceremony.

Boko Haram is in the midst of a power struggle and the video declares allegiance to long-time leader Abubakar Shekau.

The 7-year uprising has killed more than 20,000 people.

AP

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Uproar over naked Botswana president’s image

Posted: 14 Sep 2016 09:53 AM PDT

The Botswana Presidency said the law will ‘take its course’ against the persons behind the circulation of a photo-shopped image of a naked President Khama.

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Gaborone - The Office of Botswana President Lieutenant-General Seretse Khama Ian Khama said the law will ‘take its course’ against the individual or persons behind the circulation of a photo-shopped image widely interpreted as depicting a naked Khama standing in front of Parliament on the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence.

The country will mark its 50th independence anniversary from Britain, dubbed ‘BOT50’ on September 30. Debates around the image, which has been circulating on social media for nearly a week, have widely interpreted it as a satirical depiction of the crop of political leadership as the country turned 50.

In a statement, Khama’s office said it had noted “with concern and disappointment the circulation, through social media, of a photo-shopped image of H.E. the President, which is by any standard offensive and derogatory in nature”.

“The laws and norms governing publication of offensive and libellous and/or maliciously false content on social media platforms are no different from that of any other media. In this respect, we are aware and concerned about the wider trend of publishing offensive material through social media,” read part of the statement.

The statement said the country had sufficient laws to govern the use and abuse of social and warned that they would be used to protect the presidency and the society as a whole.

The Office of the President welcomed the widespread condemnation of the image by individuals ‘across society’ as a demonstration that the country was united ‘in its diversity’ with regards to upholding basic norms of human dignity.

However, Gaborone-based constitutional lawyer Mboki Chilisa told the local daily Mmegi that there was nothing illegal or unconstitutional with the image as Constitution of the country guaranteed protection to both popular and unpopular forms of public expression.

“The exercise of free expression can be extremely painful and extremely unpopular. It is when it is most painful and unpopular that it deserves protection. There is greater good in protecting unpopular, disrespectful and painful speech than in seeking to punish it,” Chilisa reportedly said.

He said in legal terms, such works of expression would fall into the category of ‘parody’ or ‘satire’ but was quick to point out that neither crossed the legal line. Chilisa concluded that the image could also be interpreted as ‘protected political speech’ and there were no reasonable grounds for it to be interpreted as factual.

African News Agency

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35 dead in Boko Haram, Niger clash

Posted: 14 Sep 2016 03:05 AM PDT

Thirty members of Boko Haram and five soldiers from Niger have been killed in fighting in the southeastern Diffa region of Niger.

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Niamey - Thirty members of Boko Haram and five soldiers from Niger have been killed in fighting in the southeastern Diffa region of Niger, the defence ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The clash took place on Monday near the village of Toumour, near Lake Chad and the Nigerian border, an area that has been plagued by violence from the Islamist militant group and is under an extended state of emergency.

Boko Haram took the nearby town of Bosso in early June, in an attack that killed 32 soldiers and was the deadliest Boko Haram assault in Niger since April 2015. Since then, Chad has sent troops to help Niger wage a counterattack.

Fighting began on Monday morning when the army fell into an ambush, the statement said, adding that six soldiers were also injured and two militants were captured.

"The Boko Haram fighters were trying to prevent people from praying to mark the feast of sacrifice," said Laouan Boukar, a resident of Toumour, referring to the important Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha that was on Monday.

Boko Haram has been trying to establish an Islamic state adhering to strict Sharia law in northeastern Nigeria since 2009. About 2.1 million people have been displaced and thousands have been killed during the insurgency.

Reuters

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